The US State Department is sending arms to Somalia to aid the beleaguered Somali government in its struggle with Islamic rebels. The weapons shipment could mark an increase in US involvement in the region, which officials worry could become a haven for Islamic terrorists.

The Los Angeles Times reports that State Department officials confirmed Thursday that the US is shipping arms to Somalia. The officials said that the government was also increasing humanitarian aid to Somalia, though they declined to say how much money was being spent in that regard.

US officials underscored that the US support for Somalia would not involve US troops, the Times adds. They also said that they hoped the US aid would encourage other nations to offer their own support to the Somalian transitional government.

The Sudan Tribunereports that Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that while there is no immediate need for Ethiopia to intervene in Somalia, "We want to wait and see how the international community as a whole responds and then see if there is any need to revisit our position on the matter."

The US aid comes amid reports that Al Shabab, one of the Islamic rebel groups fighting the Western-supported Somali government, has been more forcefully asserting its presence in Mogadishu, the Somali capital. The New York Timesreports that in Mogadishu Thursday, Al Shabab publicly amputated the right hands and left legs of four young men that it accused of theft.

The Times writes that the punishment, carried out in accordance with the rebels' strict interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law, was the first of its kind in Mogadishu in 15 years. The Times adds that analysts think that the public punishments may be an effort by Al Shabab "to win popular support in the capital by showing that it could achieve stability in the chaotic nation through a firm enactment of Shariah, or Islamic law."